I had many questions for David Coote. Why did a once respected referee, seemingly at the top of his game, see fit to film himself snorting a white powder with a US bank note in a hotel room while on duty at last summer’s European Championship?
Why did he think a video of him describing Jurgen Klopp as an ‘absolute c***’, clearly taken in drink, had been leaked? What did he think was going to happen next? Did he want to referee again? Did he think there was any way back?
This was in late January of this year, shortly after Coote had given an interview in which he had come out as gay and said that hiding his sexuality, among other issues, had triggered his outlandish behaviour.